“We Have Everything To Play For” – Arteta Issues Cry In A Bid To Stop Gunners Rot

Mikel Arteta has issued a rallying cry to his players…

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta issued a rallying cry to his players following Saturday’s defeat to Brighton as he attempts to stop the Gunners’ campaign from spiralling out of control.

The Gunners lost back-to-back Premier League games for the first time since December and have lost ground in the top-four race to rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

Antonio Conte’s men now sit three points ahead of us in fourth with a vastly superior goal difference, albeit having played a game more.

With the two sides set to meet next month and our trip to Chelsea looming to play our game in hand, Arteta claimed that now isn’t the time to fold.

Asked how he attempts to turn the situation around, the Spaniard said: “What happens is, criticise ourselves a lot, get slapped again, because we were really poor in the first half.

“Lift ourselves up because we know that this route is taking us nowhere, especially where we want to be.

“We have everything to play for still in the last 8 games that we have to have with that level of energy and visualising the challenge, the beautiful challenge that we have ahead, and don’t sit back and lets see what happens,” Arteta added (via Arsenal Player).

Those words are helpful, but Arteta issued a similar statement following Monday’s woeful display at Selhurst Park and was expecting a reaction.

With so much of the discourse this week surrounding losing two key players in Kieran Tierney and Thomas Partey, Saturday’s display at the Emirates Stadium felt like a team feeling sorry for themselves.

A former Spurs boss infamously once said that we were in a “negative spiral”, and Arteta must arrest that quickly or we could find ourselves out of European contention altogether.